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Pib

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Everything posted by Pib

  1. Based on above news since EV sellers must "complete" the vehicle regristration process (I.e., get the white tags for the vehicle) before they can actually receive the subsidy and since this process can easily take 30 (or more) it makes sense why BYD said their current reduced/discounted price for the Atto 3 I'm buying is only good till 30 Nov. Hopefully the deadline extension till 31 Dec will be approved (and additional extensions after that). But if its not, EV sales numbers are probably going to spike over the next two months (a last call to get the subsidy type thing) as buyers take advantage of the current subsidy and then the sales will plummet without a subsidy as EV sellers raise prices back to pre-subsidy level. And the "draft/unapproved" replacement EV 3.5 Subsidy Program for 2024 to replace the current approved EV 3.0 Subsidy Program is as mentioned still just a draft/unapproved program for 2024 which will determine subsidy and possibly excise tax savings for 2024. But I expect EV 3.5 (which is currently not as generous as EV 3.0) to be approved in the final weeks of Dec as governments typically wait till the 11th hour to approve a lot of things.
  2. I have the same question. As I was playing with my HR Block tax software I used each year for my US federal return while trying to complete a Form 1116 to claim the foreign tax credit the software and form seemed geared towards income actually earned/sourced in a foreign country vs US sourced income taxable by the a foreign country such as Thailand. Then further researched indicated another form might be required which was a Form 8833 Treaty Based Return Disclosure which seemed to only be useable if you benefited from the foreign country taxes replacing US taxes. And then I thing I saw somewhere else the IRS has a list of treaties that meet those requirement and the US-Thai DTA was not one of them. Confusing as heck....lot more research/head scratching to do. IRS webpage talking Form 1116 and Form 8833. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/foreign-tax-credit-special-issues
  3. Ditto on my 15 year old Fortuner.
  4. When Wise sends via SWIFT I expect they do not use the "OUR" fee option as they don't want get involved in a possible follow-up charge coming back to pay an intermediary/receiving bank fee. But when sending within Wise's peer-to-peer transfer system Wise has close to total control over fees along the whole trek like the receiving Wise partner bank ensuring funds they may need to relay to another bank in Thailand does not charge a domestic transfer/relay fee....like say Bangkok Bank (a Wise partner) ensuring their relay from Bangkok Bank to say KrungThai Bank does not incur any fee during that final mile of the transfer. But sending banks will use the OUR option when requested as it geared to help ensure an exact amount arrives like to pay a big bill. And if the sender agrees to send using the sending bank exchange rate (which is probably going to suck) to help ensure a specific THB amount arrives in that OUR transfer option then an exact amount of THB should arrive "although" a few days/weeks later an additional fee may hit the sender's acct....a fee from an intermediary/receiving bank. Or, any intermediary/receiving fee being reflected to the sending bank may never hit the senders acct because the sending bank absorbs the fee as part of their initial fee(s) they charged due to sending by the OUR option. Basically the sending bank knows an intermediary/receiving fee may be reflected back to them and they have already calculated that in their pricing for such transfers to cover any reflected fee. But hey, hopefully some folks who have made the Elite payment from their home country bank will chime in and say how they got the exact amount to the Elite folks....or maybe they ended up overpaying a little on the first...or maybe enough didn't arrive on the first try and they had to do a small follow-up transfer to pay the Elite bill.
  5. Just to add some more info regarding a SWIFT payment to ensure an exact amount arrives below is how Wise describes how you should pay Wise/fund the Wise transfer "if using SWIFT to send money to Wise to fund a transfer"....Wise says to be sure to use the OUR option. Basically Wise is giving instructions from a "receiver's" standpoint. https://wise.com/help/articles/2553074/paying-by-swift
  6. Caused by practically no "enforced" humane animal control measures and then strays continuing to multiply after being abandoned. Pretty soon it's out of control. Throw-in the Buddhist belief that it's wrong to hurt or kill animals (excluding those they like eating like pork, chicken, duck, etc), high poverty in Thailand, etc., and that leads to many, many strays in Thailand. A couple years ago we had to have one of our dogs at the time euthanized due to a degenerative neurological disease which was turning him into a vegetable, unable to walk or eat (forced feeding required), whimpering all the time, etc. No medical treatment could help, no expensive vet bills...just on home care taking a few cheap meds the vet recommended to help comfort the dog. Near the end, it was very hard to get our primary vet to euthanize the dog due to the Buddhist belief (ditto for our secondary vet). But our primary vet finally agreed to do it after he felt the dog only had a few weeks left and we (the wife and I) practically begged him. Yea, that Buddhist belief is very strong in some. We have a couple of Thai neighbors who will avoid poisoning ants/termites/bugs which are damaging their property in hopes they can use non-lethal means to get rid of them. I've now have four pets....one dog and three cats....all four started off in this world as strays being born in our village soi's...all immediately neutered/sprayed after we decided to adopt them. I'll take care of them to death due us part.
  7. It will vary from bank to bank...and the wording will vary from bank to bank. Usually if initiating online the bank will offer the fee options where you "click" to select a certain option.
  8. Yes...it was enabled for foreigners also. I have Bangkok Bank and Krungsri Bank accts and it was enabled. I've saw some posts from a couple months ago where some farangs say their Thai bank is still having problems in getting non-Thai citizen enrolled in the bank's face recognition program (a Thai ID card or farang passport issue) but that does not mean those farangs can still transfer amounts over Bt50K. What I mean by increasing fee using a 0.63% Wise fee example is if your transfer say 500,000 that equates to a fee of 3,150.....but 0.63% of 1,000,000 is a 6,300 fee. But if doing a bank SWIFT transfer the fee is the same regardless of transfer amount. Yea, be sure to do a cost analysis which includes exchange rate "and fees." And as mentioned earlier your home country bank can code a SWIFT transfer to ensure a specific amount arrives. It called coding the transfer fee option as SHA, BEN, or OUR. You would need to use OUR. See below website that explains SHA, BEN, OUR fee coding for SWIFT transfers from a "receiver's perspective" who is expecting an exact amount as it's common in some SWIFT transfers that the sender needs an exact amount to arrive without the worry of fees taking a slice. Kinda like paying a bill where an exact amount must arrive. You might have to initiate the SWIFT transfer via in-person/telephone to ensure the correct coding is used if initiating the transfer online does not show such an option. https://help.qonto.com/en/articles/4359547-how-much-does-receiving-a-swift-transfer-cost
  9. Yea...that video is acting a little strange for me also. For me the video's sound starts playing within a few seconds but no video until about 15 seconds later...like listening to a radio. But once the video appears you can just restart the video to see it from the beginning.
  10. Yes...enabled since around 1 July. You would probably be safer by just biting the bullet on this particular funds transfer and doing a SWIFT transfer. In fact, when you do a BIG amount transfer using Wise their ever increasing fee (i.e., higher the fee the bigger the transfer amount) can make it more expensive than using a SWIFT from your home country bank when doing an "exchange rate and fees" cost analysis...that is, seeing whether using Wise or home country bank SWIFT results in the most baht being received. A lot depends on just how much you are sending. IMPORTANT: if using SWIFT do not, repeat, do not allow if you can the sending bank to convert to baht on their end although they will probably offer a no-fee transfer if you allow them to convert because their exchange rate will be significantly below the Thai bank "TT Buying Rate" which is used to exchange incoming foreign currency SWIFT transfers. That method of transfer will really cost you more (and put more profit in the home country's bank's pocket) from the poor exchange. Note I said above "...if you can..." since to ensure an exact amount arrives to pay the Elite price you will need to ask your bank how they can ensure this as it basically a bill which must be paid to the exact amount....they have ways in how the code the transfer to make this happen...coding that says if a receiving fee must be paid do not deduct it from the amount being sent but send them a bill for that fee instead. In your cost analysis, Thai banks use their posted daily "TT Buying Rate" to exchange incoming transfers...and the "receiving" fee most Thai banks use is 0.25% (max Bt200 min, Bt500 max) receiving fee.
  11. At the vet I use he has 3 abandoned pets that live in his three story vet office. Pets who owners brought in for care (serious, expensive care), authorized the care/treatment, but then never came back to pay the bill/retrieve the pet which recovered.
  12. Thanks. And regarding use of cruise control I've don't use it in Thailand (on any vehicle I've owned) since it would always be cutting off from frequent braking in my driving environment where VERY frequent gas pedal/brake pedal back & forth activity is always underway. Plus, since I rarely even attempt to use cruise control, I partially forget the "exact" steps to follow to effectively use it...have to tinker/experiment with the cruise control knob settings hiding behind the steering wheel. I don't think I'm an outlier in how/when I use cruise control in Thailand. Cruise control is fine on uncrowded highways for long drives--but not many such uncrowded highways exist in Thailand. Plus I don't have any problem in just using the brain-foot combo on long driving trips. For me cruise control is just one of those options I will rarely or never use again after playing with it a few times after getting the vehicle. I think cruise control comes on almost every passenger car/truck now days. But it's just a vehicle capability I don't use. The brain-foot combo is all I need for cruise control. I wonder if BYD would give me a lower selling price on the Atto if it could be delivered without cruise control? ????
  13. Below quote from the full article. No truer words have ever been said. Basically don't get a pet...a fur baby... if you can't make a life long commitment to it. "The vet concluded the emotional pet abandonment post by urging people to be responsible pet owners and not to abandon them even when they have children or other commitments. If they are not ready to take on a decade-long commitment, they should not adopt pets in the first place. Abandoning pets and making them other people’s burdens is sinful."
  14. Dont mind at all....time will tell once the wife and I get the Atto and can experience the regen braking for at least a few weeks in our driving environment...and how it compares to our ICEV braking which we will continue to use also. "Safety First" will carry a lot of weight in our evaluation followed by the overall feel of the braking with electricity regen carrying much less weight.
  15. I would be more concerned about the number of speeding tickets I'm going to get in the mail from driving at 120-160kmh between Pattaya and Bangkok versus the EV battery range. ???? And yea, anytime you have the "pedal to the metal", whether dinosaur- or electric fuel-powered a lot more fuel is going to be consumed in maintaining a high speed compared to maintaining a lower speed over the same distance. The Atto 3 Extended Range (60KWH battery) has a NEDC range 480km. The NEDC standard is jokingly referred to as Not Even Durn Close although its official name is the New European Driving Cycle....and a WLTP range of 420Km. The WLTP rating gets closer to reality in comparison to NEDC, but WLTP still does not represent real world driving range most people will get considering everyone drivers differently, in different environments, etc. All the various EVs I seen sold in Thailand seem to use the NEDC standard in their primary advertising since it reflects a higher range than WLTP....for this specification higher is better for advertising/sales purposes. And maybe Thai law requires use of NEDC vs WLTP in sale of vehicles....I don't know. But if using the WLTP standard it's mainly based on speeds far lower than 120-160kmh...based on an average of speed limits a people encounter...low, medium, high, and extra high driving speeds. Yea, pedal to the metal speeds eat fuel at a far greater rate for the same distance covered.
  16. One issue I've been concerned with is how regen braking might affect a person's ability to brake/slow down a vehicle just at the right deceleration speed to avoid rear ending the vehicle in front of you "while also" not slowing down too fast to cause the person behind you to rear-end you. Or maybe to use an ol' nursery rhyme, "....it's not too hot, it's not too cold, it's just right..." 95% of my driving is done in the greater Bangkok metro area on slow and fast moving roads (saw a 100km radius from Bangkok's center)....the land of bumper-to-bumper traffic where distances between vehicles in front and rear of you are almost always at minimum levels whether that bumper-to-bumper traffic is crawling along or moving at a high speed on a highway. The type of traffic where it can be challenging to maintain a safe following distance especially since many drivers which see any open space ahead in the lanes next to them will quickly cut over/squeeze into that open space in hopes of gaining even 1 meter of distance and/or reducing their driving time by 1 second to where ever they are going in spite of the safety risks involved in cutting in and out of lanes frequently to gain a little distance. Makes it hard to maintain safe driving distance so a person often decides not to leave too much space between you and the vehicle ahead in trying to prevent other drivers from unsafely cutting in front of you to fill that safe space....ends up causing you to quickly slow down to create safe spacing again. And of course if you slow down too fast you run the risk of causing the person behind to kiss your vehicle's butt. After 15 years of driving in Thailand by far the most typical accident I see in the greater Bangkok area is "rear-end collisions"...very often with 3 or more vehicles involved. Not deadly collisions...just collisions that cause minor to major vehicle damage. Just last weekend on a drive on Rama II Road from Bangkok to Samut Songkhran I saw two rear collisions at two locations over 20 minutes. A 5 vehicle pile-up and a 7 vehicle pile-up in the right/fast lane. A MG4 Electric was in the 5 vehicle butt kisser pile-up...it was car number 3 in that pile-up. No serious injuries in either pile-up as far as I could see as I rubber-necked as driving by; just all vehicles incurring BIG baht damage. Each time I see a butt kissing vehicle pile-up I just know it could have been probably been prevented or the number of vehicles involved reduced if the drivers had maintained a safe spacing distance and/or "decelerated/braked" at just the right speed....braking that paid attention to braking enough to avoid kissing the vehicle in front but not braking so fast it ends up not giving the vehicle behind you enough time to stop. A couple times a year I have to brake suddenly and heavily (a.k.a., butt-puckering braking)...usually at a healthy speed and my brain is trained to also instantly glance into my rear view mirror to gauge how close any vehicle is behind me as I "do not want to stop on a dime...stop so fast too easily avoid hitting the car in front of me" if stopping too fast is probably going to cause the vehicle behind me to hit me. Yes, I determine how fast to stop based on the vehicle in front "and" vehicle behind me; not just the car in front of me. When I get my BEV (an Atto 3 inbound from the China factory) I will most likely set it to the lowest level of regen braking in order to give "me" the most control in determining how slow or fast I brake.....I'll continue to trust my own defensive braking skills over that of the car's computer which is maybe biased towards squeaking out a little more energy to feed back into the battery versus the safest braking control. Now to the Atto 3 has two regen braking levels...Standard and High. Reviews indicate even the High level is provides a pretty minimal (weak) level of braking.....much less than a lot of other EVs. See one review of the Atto 3 regen braking. I did do a 20Km test drive before ordering and don't know what regen level was set...Standard or High. And I don't think it can be turn off....it's either Standard or High based on what you select. Now I didn't do any butt-puckering braking to get a feel for "how much control I have in the braking" but the braking I did do felt OK....it didn't get the feeling of regen braking having too much control. I know a lot of people talk about how great "one pedal" driving is because the regen braking on their EV is so strong...brings the car to a slow stop without even have to press on the brake pedal. But I wonder if these folks ever have to drive in "very challenging, close quarters" driving and/or have just relinquished braking control to the vehicle's braking computer vs relying on human braking/defensive driving skills. For me I could care less about a few more kilometers worth of energy being pumped back into by battery due to regen braking if, repeat, if that regen braking reduces braking safety like in butt-puckering stops where a person needs to be super concerned about braking at just the right amount to protect your front "and" rear.
  17. Yea...No argument from me that ceramic coating is way overhyped when it comes to protecting from chips/scratches but it's much better than wax for shine, repelling water & grim, lasting power, etc. And when it comes to protecting against stone chips/scratches even PPF can't prevent all of them....especially the aggressive ones. My Fortuner which I bought new in late 2008 which now has 315,000km under its odometer has very few minor paint chips/scratches (all on the front bumper area from stone's or doors from other cars opening their door against your door). 95% of the kilometers accumulated on roads within a 100km radius of Bangkok. PPF would probably have helped in protecting against most (not all) of the stone chips but probably not the door chips. PPF is definitely better than wax or ceramic coating but it comes at a high price.
  18. Maybe keep the paint protection simple but a lot better than wax and a lot cheaper than ceramic coating applied at a detail shop. Ceramic coating products like below are cheap but work really well....simple to apply once you get the paint good-and-clean/smooth....and looks really good afterwards. Apply every year or so. I've been using it on my 15 year old Fortuner.
  19. In studying up on the PTT app usage such as possible problems if not being able to start a charging session, it listed an "outstanding balance" as one of the possible reasons. A person needs to pay/get that outstanding balance cleared before another charging session will be allowed as you said. Since your CIMB card didn't approve the charging payment how did you eventually pay...get the PTT app outstanding balance cleared/paid?
  20. OK, I got fully registered on the PTT EV Station Pluz app to including being able to load a payment option. I used my Thai Pink ID card (13 digit Thai card as required by the app...passports not accepted) and was able to load my Bangkok Bank debit card as a payment option. Now I thought for a while I was not going to be able to add the card because the app asks you to enter the card number, name, expiration date, and CVV....and then hit Save where a OTP is suppose to be sent to you to finish the process. But when hitting Save absolutely nothing happened for the first couple of tries (I would wait around 30 seconds on each try for something to happen). Then on the 3rd or 4th try where I completely reentered all the card info when hitting Save it finally continued to the next step which was a screen saying K-bank was going to complete the verification process by causing a OTP to be sent to me. A OTP was sent to me from Bangkok Bank....I entered that OTP and the card was then approved as a payment option. It now appears in the app's payment section. So, it appears I might be good-to-go with the PTT app, but until I'm able to do a real world operational charging test I will not know for sure. Ditto for the PEA Volta app. Need to get my Atto 3 first which is supposedly inbound from the China factory. I'm now setup for use of PEA Volta and PTT EV Station Pluz apps/chargers. Particularly happy to get the PTT app setup as in my driving around PTT stations with chargers seem plentiful and PTT stations are all over Thailand. Not all PTT stations have chargers but quite a few do and those that do usually have a big EV logo on the station main road sign that can be seen from a long distance away....and of course the PTT app will show stations with chargers. The next app I may try to sign-up for is the EA Anywhere app as they seem to have the most chargers and locations in Thailand according to that chart posted eight or so posts up. P.S. Thank you Pink ID card as you are coming in handy once again.
  21. Well that kinda sucks especially if you started charging say 5 minutes before top of the hour, head off to a food shop say for 30 minutes, but when you come back expecting 30 minutes worth of charge has completed you see only 5 minutes completed.
  22. Yea...in playing with the app I noticed that. I pretty much only visit PTT stations....guess I will need to start visiting Bangchak stations.
  23. I just successfully signed up with PEA Volta. For others listening in, after the "initial" registration which just requires an email address and password you get an Activation email to confirm your email address....press the Activate button in that email and you can now log onto the app. But before you can select a payment option the app requires you to complete your app profile where they ask for your name, DOB, ID number (I used my 13 digit Pink ID Card....don't know if it would have accepted my foreign passport number), full address, phone number, car model, etc. I used my Pink ID card number since it will probably never change whereas my foreign passport number will change ever 9 to 10 years when renewing. Anyway I was able to complete the Profile setup without any problem. Now after having the Profile setup when clicking TopUp it showed the image in your post above...click say a Bt200 topup and a QR codes pops up for you to use to complete payment within 10 minutes. I did not follow thru with a topup as I don't even have my EV yet, but you can be sure once I get the EV and even if I have say a 80% charge level I will stop at a PEA charger just to see/test if I can initiate a charge session, top-up, pay, etc.---that is, do a real world test to ensure it works. When selecting the topup via Credit/Debit Car it offers Visa, Mastercard, and JCB. The required entries for payment by card is: card number, card name, expire date, and CVV. You are then to click the Pay button. As with the QR topup method I did not give that a try via my Thai banks debit card nor my foreign debit/credit cards....but I have a gut feeling it's only going to accept a Thai card. But I would prefer to pay by QR code and not have to enter any debit/credit card info into any app (especially a Thai app) because if that app ever gets hacked then your debit/credit card info could end-up in the hands of bad guys. Thanks again for your post/images....it gave me enough confidence that there may not be a Catch 22 problem after initially registering but then not being able to setup a payment option to be able to use the app....kinda like getting a gun but you can't get any bullets.
  24. No but I will. I have an BYD Atto 3 on order and it comes with a free 7KW wall charger....also a free granny charger. The wall charger is supposed to be installed within about a week after I accept the car....still waiting on it to arrive from China....hopefully within the next month. I expect it will be rare to have a need to use a charging station as the great, great majority of my EV use will be with around a 100Km radius of my Bangkok home. But, I want the capability to to charge on the road for those rare longer trips OR I forget to keep the EV charged high enough for a planned short trip & need to top-up while driving.
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